Seminar on Bi- and Multilingualism and Cognition

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Seminar on Bi- and Multilingualism and Cognition
Short Title: BML

Date: 19-May-2005 - 21-May-2005
Location: Bolzano, Italy
Contact Person: Liliana Albertazzi
Meeting Email: liliana.albertazzi at unitn.it
Web Site: http://www.mitteleuropafoundation.it

Call Deadline: 15-Apr-2005

Meeting Description:

The aim of this seminar is to discuss the most recent research on cognitive
aspects of bi- and multilingualism. Since language research is basically
cognitive research, a cognitive theory of language is the most suitable
theoretical framework in which to bring together psychology, linguistics,
and bilingualism. Research has demonstrated that a significant amount of
cognitive development results from the internalization of interpersonal
communicative processes. Cognitive approaches to bi- and multilingualism
attempt to find out what happens if these interpersonal communicative
processes involve the use of more than one language. Earlier research
studies concentrated on the bilingual person and the product of thinking,
while recent trends have seemed to favour the process of thinking, focusing
on language recall, reaction time, information processing and memorization,
on the one hand, and social and conceptual development on the other. Issues
reflecting these developments will be addressed and discussed in the
seminar. Ample time will be allocated to discussion. The first two days will
be devoted to presentation/discussion of the invited speakers'
contributions, while the third one will be taken up by panel/short
presentations. Power point presentations are encouraged. If you are
interested in attending the workshop and/or contributing your own ideas,
please send a mail (with a two-page abstract if you intend to give a
presentation/panel) to the address below before April 15.

Invited keynote speakers (confirmed):

Ellen Bialystok (Department of Psychology, York University, Canada)
''Cognitive effects of bilingualism across the lifespan.''

Ton Dijkstra (Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information, The
Netherlands) ''Task and context effects in bilingual processing.''

Istvan Kecskes (State University of New York, Albany, USA) ''Synergic
concepts in the bilingual mind.''

Michel Paradis (McGill University, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Canada)
''The components of the bilingual cognitive system.''

The conference will be organized by the Mitteleuropa Foundation, Bolzano,
Portici Street, 30, Italy (http://www.mitteleuropafoundation.it)

If you are interested in attending the workshop and/or contributing your
own ideas, please send an email (with a two-page abstract in attachment if
you intend to give a presentation/panel) to the secretary of Mitteleuropa
Foundation, Dr. Paola Benevento(p.benevento at mitteleuropafoundation.it)
before April 15.

Important Dates:
Deadline for abstract submissions: April 15, 2005
Conference: May 19-21, 2005
Information about how to reach Bolzano are available from the Foundation's
webpage (http://www.mitteleuropafoundation.it)